Kyle Whorrall homicide: First witness to encounter murdered US student at Meadowbank, Auckland bus stop testifies
A witness has testified in the trial of four teenagers accused of murdering American PhD student Kyle Whorrall in Auckland. The witness described discovering the victim at a bus stop after witnessing a violent attack.
Why it matters
This high-profile criminal case highlights issues of youth violence and public safety in New Zealand.
A 16-year-old was trying to beat his 10pm curfew last year when he drove past an odd scene at an East Auckland bus stop – “sketchy” enough that it made him slow down, then U-turn.
“[I] got a little closer and I started to see these two people attack what I thought was an old lady ... with what I thought was a baseball bat or something similar,” the witness told jurors today in the High Court at Auckland.
The violent scene – albeit viewed from across the street, in the dark and from a moving car – caused enough concern to the young driver that he immediately decided to call 111 and stopped to see if the person who had been seated at the bus stop was okay. He soon realised the person clearly wasn’t.
“Ambulance! Ambulance! This person is dead!” he recalled yelling to the dispatcher.
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